Patients sometimes have a hard time discerning reliable from unreliable information on the Internet.

One patient wrote Nedrow enthusiastically about an herb to treat low libido. Nedrow, medical director of Women's Primary Care and Integrative Medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University, clicked on the link, and saw that it was an advertisement for the herb, and there was no science proving that the herb actually worked.

Another e-mail contained a link to a site for a nutritional drink. Again, Nedrow wrote back pointing out that the Web site actually belonged to the company that made the drink, hardly an objective source.

Nedrow's conclusion: Patients sometimes have a hard time discerning objective from subjective, and reliable from unreliable information on the Internet. So we asked her, and three other women's health experts, for their favorite sites on women's health.

Gynecological health

Dr. Christiane Northrup, an obstetrician-gynecologist and author of three books on women's health, says when it comes to infertility, she recommends The Fertile Soul and Fertile Heart, which focus on complementary and alternative therapies.

Also, on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's page on assisted reproductive technology, you can look up success rates for fertility clinics nationwide.

The word is out: Heart disease isn't a man's issue. Women have heart attacks, too, and often the signs are very different from those men see. Nedrow recommends the National Institute of Health's section on women and heart health. There's also Heart Healthy Women, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation in collaboration with WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease and the Office on Women's Health of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Nedrow also recommends Reynolds Risk Score, a site specially designed for women to calculate their risk of having a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. The American Heart Association also has a risk calculator for women.

Breast cancer

Dr. Carolyn Runowicz, past president of the American Cancer Society and herself a breast cancer survivor, recommends the Susan G. Komen for the Cure site as well as the site for the Gynecologic Cancer Foundation. Dr. Pamela Peeke, clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, also recommends the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation Web site.

Osteoporosis

Nedrow says the National Osteoporosis Foundation's site is a good source of information. At FRAX, you can calculate your risk of getting osteoporosis using a tool developed by the World Health Organization.